When in Rome do as the Romans do!

        Last night Nora, Anthony, Adrian and I went to a fabulous restaurant for dinner. We were encouraged to look for those hidden restaurants that a lot of Italians are eating at, not the tourist type restaurants. So, we did just that. It turned out to be an amazing find. We were eating amongst the Italians and though we probably stood out immensely, it was a great experience anyway. I got Fettucini with sausage and a glass of red wine.

         We also tried to "eat" like the Italians do which means we went out at 10pm for dinner and ate SO slow! We did not even finish our dinner until a little after midnight. We all had such a good time observing the culture while at dinner time flew by. We ate outside at this restaurant, despite it being a little chilly still, because it was heated by outdoor lamps. We were able to watch the Italians and tourists on their way out to the restaurants, bars and clubs. The couple next to us was Italian (the man was literally smoking a cig while eating his dinner! everyone smokes here I swear!!) and our waiter sat down with them for the whole night and had a glass of wine. Definitely something you would never see in America! Our Italian speaker yesterday explained he had his first glass of wine when he was FIVE years old!! Alcohol is not a big deal to the Italians, it is to be enjoyed, not abused. A glass of wine at dinner is simply apart of the culture. We drink milk with dinner, they drink wine!
        Our waiter spoke excellent English I might add. It was a lot less stressful being able to order in English and have the waiter understand exactly what you want, because no mushrooms were definitely a necessity with my meal! The restaurants also unlike those in America, never rush you. One of the reasons we took so long at dinner was because we did not even realize how late it had gotten. We could have sat at that restaurant until 4am without once being badgered or rushed even once.
       The city was so alive last night. Everywhere we went it was popping. There is a very American bar in Camp Di Fiori where a lot of the young people hang out that is called the Drunken Ship. We went there after dinner, but did not stay long because it was so crowded. We ran into half of SJU there though! We walked around Campo Di Fiori afterwards, took pictures at some fountains and soaked in this amazing experience. WE ARE IN ROME!!!!
     While taking a pit stop at a local Coffee Shop we ran into some American girls that go to Hofstra. They were visiting Rome for the weekend and were actually from Venice! Nora has been trying to do a lot of research on weekend trips so this was the perfect opportunity to get info and we got a lot! They told us a much faster and cheaper way to get to Venice via the express train, rather than plane or regular train we were researching. They also told us great places to stay, eat, and where the best night life is. They suggested not staying in Venice much longer then 3 days, because Rome is where its at. Once again, things like that, make me so thrilled SJU has their own campus. The girls said they had to stay in a hotel even though they are taking a class here!!! I don't know how SJU scored this one, but I am sure glad they did.
      Nora and I were SO tired last night and passed out once we got back to our room. We figured we would be up around 10am, but ended up sleeping in a lot later then that. We were so exhausted though, and apparently everyone was. Much to my surprise, Adrian did not get up until late either. We really needed that sleep though, we have all been sleep deprived, and classes start tomorrow. We need to be back on track! Poor Ricardo knocked on my door this morning and I opened it still half asleep... aka gave him the death stare...and then I proceeded to go back to bed. I realized about an hour later what had happened...SORRY RICARDO!
    We are going to do a little shopping today to get some bottled water mostly, because we are definitely not drinking enough water. We will probably take it easy tonight, but I am determined to have some Gelato (Italian ice cream!) with dinner! It will be very helpful once our meal plan starts on Tuesday because the food in Rome is not cheap by any means. In fact, our speaker told us yesterday only the rich live in Rome because the housing is so expensive here. He reassured us we are so lucky to be in the location we are, it is so rare a college from America would have this access. Well, off to shower and then to get some lunch. Once again, thanks for reading :) I will post again soon!

XOXO Shann